1920: James Nathan Skiff was born on May 5, 1882, and enlisted in the New York State Troopers on June 11, 1917, in Albany. Trooper Skiff was married with one child and had a military record that spanned more than five years at the time of enlistment. Trooper Skiff became one of the 168 men to successfully pass the first exam to become a Trooper. Trooper Skiff was one of the first men to build Camp Newayo and was quickly promoted to the rank of Sergeant.
Before the initial group of men were sent out to the Troops, Sergeant Skiff was again promoted to the rank of First Sergeant, assigned to Troop A.
On January 1, 1918, Skiff was promoted to Lieutenant and assigned to Troop K. Unknown to him, the Troop Commander in Troop K resigned from service on the same day, leaving Skiff as the acting Troop Commander for Troop K. One month later, Skiff was promoted to the rank of Captain and officially became the Troop K Commander.
In June 1918, Captain Skiff resigned from his command with the State Police and joined the war effort with the 27th Infantry Division.
Once discharged from the military, Skiff again enlisted in the State Police on May 30, 1919. Colonel Chandler required Skiff to return and take the rank of Trooper and he was assigned to Troop D.
On May 19, 1920, while riding in a motorcycle side car in the city of Ogdensburg, the side car was involved in an motor vehicle accident with a trolley car. Trooper Skiff never regained consciousness and died on May 25, 1920, becoming the first State Police member to be killed in the line of duty.